A new version of the Google app made a late-night appearance on the beta channel. As is common, there aren't many new things to see after installing it, but there are plenty of topics to discuss from doing a teardown. The latest additions include text revealing an upcoming Pixel Stand charging dock, settings for a YouTube TV content filtering option, and what looks like enhanced voice-controlled features for use in the car based on work Google has done with Assistant-enabled headphones.

Back at CES 2018, Google made a huge splash by announcing Assistant support on every gadget and electronic imaginable. Sony was on the list, but the company did one better than many of its competitors: beside launching new headphones and headsets with Assistant, it promised an update for some of its existing products that would bring them the same feature. And now that firmware is rolling out.

It's time for another Google app update. The beta release of v7.20 follows the trend of making few changes to the interface or functions, but there's a lot to see in a teardown. Thanks to resources harvested from the app, there are clues pointing to a new hotword to wake the Assistant, which may finally mean custom hotwords. We can also see more updates for smart displays and podcast management. There may even be a redesigned order tracking feature coming that keeps better track of status changes.

An update to the Google app hit the beta channel yesterday and it brings back the Notification toggles for Assistant devices that had briefly appeared a few months ago. Also in tow are some visual tweaks and a revised list of the types of devices certain Assistant features work with. A teardown also turns up new commute settings, a few bits about getting your kids set up with Google Assistant and Home, and a pretty cool feature for the newly announced Pixel Buds.

The Google Help account uploaded three new videos a few days back, detailing exactly how to use the Google Assistant on devices like Bose's recently released QuietComfort 35 II. If you've been wondering how, exactly, the Google Assistant works in that type of environment, it actually looks reasonably intuitive. And either way, the videos are pretty short and worth a watch.

We've known for a while that at least one pair of headphones with Google Assistant was in development, under the 'Bisto' codename. Two days ago, Bose's QuietComfort 35 II with Google Assistant built-in was leaked. Now, at least one person has discovered a pair at a local Best Buy.

Bose's QuietComfort 35 have been a huge hit in spite of its $349 MSRP. The headphones are comfortable, put out good sound, and the noise cancellation works very well. There's really no need for an imminent successor, but that's not how the tech industry works. The appropriately-named QuietComfort 35 II has been leaked with Google Assistant support, meaning that this is one of Google's "Bisto" headphones.

The latest update to the Google app is rolling out to beta channel members right now. There aren't any immediately obvious changes on the surface, but as the tradition often goes, there are some things under the hood worthy of discussion in a teardown. This version brings a pretty good indicator that 8.1 will be the next version of Android. There are also signs that user-defined actions are going to get some changes in the future. We're also going to hit an option to turn off the built-in screenshot handler and a little bit more about Google's upcoming "Bisto" headphones.

Teardown

Disclaimer: Teardowns are based on evidence found inside of apks (Android's application package) and are necessarily speculative and usually based on incomplete information.

Yesterday was a busy day with the official announcement of Android Oreo and our sun playing a short game of peekaboo behind the moon. Yesterday also saw the release of a brand new version of the Google app to the beta channel. After a bit of digging, there aren't any notable changes jumping out at us, but a teardown of the APK provides a monstrous amount of information about a mystery device called Bisto. There's plenty here, so let's dig straight into the juicy bits!